


Along For the Ride

by jewishedwardelric



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Romantic Comedy, Rumbelle Christmas in July
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 04:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7560280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jewishedwardelric/pseuds/jewishedwardelric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Mr. Gold is dragged to a tour across the United States, he isn't expecting much, least of all her. And Belle is yearning for adventure, but what she finds is the greatest adventure of all. A Rumbelle Christmas in July gift for joylee56</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [joylee56](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=joylee56).



“Are you taking your whole library, Belle? Jesus. The tour’s only for three weeks,” Lacey French complained.

 

Belle looked at her suitcase, which was nearly filled to the brim with all her favorite books. Okay, so she went a little overboard with packing. Well, a  _ lot  _ overboard, but so what? Belle loved books.  Some would say too much, but she didn’t really believe there was such a thing as loving reading too much.

 

And the coach tour was for three weeks; she needed her books. She couldn’t go so long without them. 

 

“I only put my most favorite books in there, and okay, five I’ve been dying to read since forever,” Belle insisted.

 

Belle had first spotted a notice for a coach tour across the States while browsing Facebook one day and decided to check it out.

  
  


_ “A coach tour? What’s that?” their father, Moe, asks when Belle brings up the idea to them. _

 

_ “It’s one of those bus tours that goes across the United States. It lasts about three weeks. It’s a chance to see the world.  Papa, you know I’ve always longed to see the world,” Belle points out. _

 

_ “I figured moving to Storybrooke from Brisbane would satisfy that urge,” Moe says. _

 

_ “And traveling the United States doesn’t exactly qualify as seeing the world,” Lacey adds. _

 

_ “Well, traveling the actual world is much more expensive than traveling the States, so this should suffice.” _

 

_ “How much is it, Belle? We barely make enough from the store as is, and this seems incredibly expensive," Moe says. Their store, a flower shop called Game of Thorns, is barely successful and definitely not popular. It is always in danger of being shut down by the rent collector, the mysterious Mr. Gold. _

 

_ "Well, that's the thing, Papa. I saved up some money working as a library assistant for a few weeks, so I have enough for all of us, plus for some souvenirs. What do you think?" Belle asks excitedly, beaming proudly. _

 

_ "You girls can go if you want, but I have no interest in this tour thing," Moe says flippantly. _

 

_ "You sure, Papa? Won't you be lonely here?" Belle asks. _

 

_ "I'll be fine, Belle. Don't worry about me. Besides, I need to look after the shop." _

 

_ Belle sighs, then turns to her twin. "Lacey? Are you going?" she asks. _

 

_ "Hell yes. It's so boring here," Lacey says enthusiastically. _

 

_ "Well, it's in two weeks, so you better get ready." _

 

So the French twins were set to go on the tour.

  
  


**Day of tour**

"This is stupid," Mr.  Gold complained for what seemed like the hundredth time.

“You keep saying that, Papa,” his son, Neal, said, sighing. “But you really need to get out and meet people again. It’s not healthy to keep cooped up in the pawnshop.”

“Maybe not, but I doubt a tour across the United States is going to help me,” Gold retorted.

“Give it a chance. I’m sure you’ll have fun.”

Gold sighed. It would be a long three weeks.

Most of the seats were full except for one-next to a pretty young woman, who was engrossed in a book.

“Hey, do you mind if I sit here? I won’t bug you,” Gold asked. The woman looked up, and Gold was greeted with the most beautiful blue eyes.

“Yeah, sure,” the woman said. She had an incredibly Australian accent, and Gold felt his heart jump, even more so when she smiled. “I’m Belle. Belle French.”

“I’m Mr. Gold,” he said as he sat down.

“Of the pawnshop?” she asked curiously.

“And notorious rent collector and lawyer. You might have heard of my notoriety,” he confirmed.

“Ah, yes, my father talked about you,” she said, then frowned. “Well, it’s more like ranting.”

“Is your father, by any chance, Moe French?” Gold inquired.

“He is.”

“He owes me money,” Gold grumbled.

“I’m sorry,” Belle said apologetically. “I’ve been helping him with the shop, as well as my sister Lacey, but we never seem to make enough money to pay off his debt. As of late I’ve been working as an assistant in the library to help bring in extra money.”

Gold knew for a fact where the money had been going. It was hardly a secret that Moe French liked to gamble. It was also a known fact that he was shit at it. Gold wasn’t happy thinking of French’s daughters having to work two jobs to bring in money that would only be blown.

“So what brings you here?” Belle asked cheerfully.

“My boy, Neal, dragged me here,” Gold admitted. “He says I need to get out of the shop and meet people.”

“Well, you met me. Maybe we can be travel buddies.”

Gold looked unsure. 

“I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she added quickly. “I just figured that since you don’t seem to really know many people, and I didn’t want you to get lonely on this trip…”

Gold interrupted her rambling. “Deal,” he said, taken her by surprise.

“So what brings you here?” he asked.

She told him her story about finding out about the trip as the bus started to leave Storybrooke,  Maine.


	2. Chapter 2

To be honest, Gold didn’t think he was much of a travel buddy. He hardly spoke on his part, only to reply to Belle. Belle was the one doing to talking, excitedly chattering away at the landmarks she was dying to see. Secretly, Gold found it rather endearing. Secretly, because she could never fall for someone like him. She was young and pretty, probably in her twenties, and he was getting old, in his fifties. She was a ray of sunshine. He was the notoriously snarky and aloof Mr. Gold.

 

“So, Mr. Gold, what landmark are  _ you  _ most looking forward to?” Belle asked, unbelievingly seeming interested in what he had to say.

 

“I don’t know. I’ve never been to DC,” he said truthfully.

 

“Oh? Me neither. I haven’t really been anywhere except Storybrooke and Brisbane,” Belle said.

 

“You were born in Brisbane?” Gold asked.

 

“Yes,” Belle confirmed.

 

“What prompted your family to move to Storybrooke?”

 

“Well, Mum died when Lacey and I were around sixteen, and Papa lost his job. To this day, though, I have no idea why he chose Storybrooke. He never told me.”

 

“Ah.”

 

After that, they were silent. They had the option to watch a movie, with headphones, and they chose  _ The Boleyn Sisters. _

 

~

 

The first stop was New York, specifically Times Square. After that was was the Museum of Modern Art. It would take all day, so after that, they’d stop at a restaurant and then to a hotel for the night.

 

Neal and a blonde haired woman named Emma tagged along with Belle and Gold.

 

“Have you been to NYC, Mr.  Gold?” Belle asked.

 

“Yeah, when I had to drag my son back to Storybrooke when he ran away,” Gold said.

 

“You were dating Cora,” Neal interjected. “She was so unpleasant to me. I had to run away.”

 

“I said I was sorry, son,” Gold said defensively.  “She became so unpleasant to me, too.”

 

“Yeah, I know. Anyway, I’m glad she’s gone from our lives.”

Times Square was amazing, better than Belle could have ever anticipated. It was hectic, magical, and breathtaking. But even better was the company of her travel partner. Gold liked to tell her the history of NYC, Times Square, and all its features.

 

They had lunch at Subway’s. Now it was time for MoMA.

 

“This was the first date I took Neal’s mom,  Milah, to,” Gold said. “She never was particularly into art, but I was.”

 

“Oh? Who’s your favorite artist?” Belle inquired, looking genuinely curious.

 

“I love Caravaggio,”  Gold said. “His work is dark and something about that attracts me.”

 

“I love Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, and Frida Kahlo.”

 

They talked about art for the two hours they were there, engrossed in the aura of the place, and loving each other’s company. They both were oblivious to the feelings they were developing, though.

  
  
Dinner was at Olive Garden. They ate and then went to a hotel for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

“Milah!” Remus Gold’s voice is barely audible through the loud, obnoxious noise of the seedy bar. But Milah sees her husband all the same.

Her eyes narrow, but she merely smirks and jeers at Gold, “Look, Killian! My coward husband finally left his house. How much you wanna bet that he runs home in a second, with his tail tucked between his legs?”

The man beside her, a sleazy looking guy simpers, “This the guy you told me about? The coward who was dishonorably discharged from the Scottish military? He’s even more pathetic in person.”

Remus ignores the comments. He’s used to them by now, and he knows them to be true. He is a coward. Still...he is here for a reason.

“You’re supposed to be home watching Bae,” Remus says, approaching the pair. “And who the hell is this?” He gestures towards Killian.

“You’re perfectly good at watching the kid. Besides, clearly you’re the woman in the relationship and I the man, right? Isn’t that the reason you wouldn’t fight?” Milah says disdainfully. “Oh, and this man? Killian Jones, sea captain. More of a man than you’ll ever be.”

“I need you to help with our son, Milah. He’s your responsibility, too,” Remus says, trying to not make himself more pathetic than he already is, and failing.

“I’m busy,” Milah says simply. “Run home, Remus. It’s what you’re good at.”

Remus can see this is futile. So he leaves, trying to ignore the cruel mocking aimed at him as he exits the bar.

A week goes by before he sees his “wife” again, who has a lawyer nearby with divorce papers in her hand.

“You knew this was coming, Remus,” she says simply.

Remus only nods, trying not to let any emotion show. “What of our son, Milah?” is his only response.

“I never was meant to be a mum,” she says coldly. “And you’ve been doing such a good job as a father, I figured you could keep him.”

“You don’t want to see him? Not even have visitation rights?” Remus is aghast.

“No, he’s your problem now. Killian and I wish to have each other to ourselves.”

That’s the last he hears of his ex-wife for eleven years after their divorce. His feelings grow to hate for abandoning their son.  
The worst part is having to tell Bailey about Milah’s leaving. He can’t do it. He can’t look his son in the eye and tell him that his mother abandoned him. So Remus tells Bailey Milah died in a car crash, and that she loved him. Neither were true.

For over ten years Bailey believes that, until one day Milah and Killian Jones come waltzing in back into their lives.

They are now living in Storybrooke, Maine, and Gold is opening up his pawnshop. One day he spots a familiar face browsing the shop. He is no longer the pathetic, cowardly cripple, but a cold and feared pawnshop owner.

“Well, well, well, look who it is,” Gold says dryly.

Milah looks at him in feined confusion.

“Excuse me, do I know you?” she asks.

“You don’t recognize your ex-husband, Milah? I’m truly hurt,” he retorts sarcastically. “No, you recognized me from the start, dearie, and my guess is you want something from me. What is it?”

Milah frowns. “I want to see my son, Remus,” she says flatly.

“Why?” he asks in slight surprise. “You didn’t before.”

“I wasn’t at a place in my life to take care of children. I needed to find myself.”

“And you couldn’t be bothered to send a note, call me, or whatever? I doubt you give a damn about Bae. This is just another way for you to screw me over once again.”

“Step down, mate,” another familiar voice says. Killian Jones. “Milah just wants her son back in her life again, is that so wrong?”

“It is when she hasn’t made any effort to contact him,” Remus snaps. “Eleven years of silence and suddenly it occurs to you to ask for custody? Bullshit.”

“What’s going on, Papa?” a voice interrupts their heated argument.

“Get to the back, son. Papa needs to sort out old business.”

Bailey starts for the back, but Milah grabs him by the arm. “Is this our son?” she demands.

Bailey looks questioningly over at his father. “Papa?” He’s confused.

“No,” Remus says firmly. “He’s my son.”

“He has my hair,” Milah notes. “He looks like me.”

“Papa, who is this woman, and why is she grabbing me?” Bailey yanks his arm away.

“I’m your mother,” Milah says. “You don’t recognize me?” At least Milah has the decency to look hurt, as if she cares.

“My mom? But she’s dead. She died a long time ago in a car crash. Papa said so.”

Milah is appalled. “You told our child I’m dead?” she snaps.

“We all need to talk in the back,” Remus says, sighing.

  
Remus explains to Bae the situation, why he lied to him, and the custody situation.

“You lied to me,” Bae says.

“Yes, son,” Remus admits.

“You said Mom was dead.”

“I did. And she might as well have been. She left no contact information, never made an effort to find you until now, didn’t check up to see how you were doing.”

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” Bae demands.

“I didn’t want you to blame yourself for her abandoning you, son. My own papa abandoned me, and I’ve blamed myself ever since.”

“You should’ve told me anyway, I’m not you, Papa. I wouldn’t blame myself.”

“I’m sorry, son,” Remus says, his eyes begging for forgiveness.

“How am I supposed to trust you after this?” Bailey asks.

Remus has no answers.

Gold awoke with a start in a hotel room he was sharing with Belle. The bad memories flooded to his brain, overwhelming him. He sat up. He would not get sleep now.

Today was Niagara Falls.

Belle woke up hours later. “Hey, you want to go get free breakfast downstairs?” she offered.

“Sure, the bus leaves at ten, and it’s six, so we’ll have plenty of time.”  
Gold chose eggs and toast while Belle chose pancakes.

“Your son, Neal-he seems nice,” Belle remarked between bites of her breakfast.

“He is. Far too nice and forgiving than I deserve,” Gold responding, after which he worried if he’d gotten slightly too personal. “I wonder who the blonde girl is he’s with.”

“Emma Swan, she moved here recently to reconnect with her son she gave up for adoption ten years ago.”

“Emma. What a lovely name. Who’s the father?”

“Um, I’m not sure actually. We should ask them when we get to Niagara.”

  
~  
“Have you been to Niagara Falls, Mr. Gold?” Belle asked.

“I took my ex-fiancee there once. She didn’t really appreciate its beauty,” he answered. Cora didn’t care for anything except for Cora and her ambitions.

“Neal’s mother?” Belle guessed, trying not to pry, but genuinely curious.

“No, she came after Neal’s mother.” Milah would never even set foot on Niagara Falls. At least for him. For Jones she’d probably do anything.

Belle talked to him about her life, her relationships with her father (“He means well, but he’s overbearing and protective.”), her sister (“Lacey’s not perfect, and she makes bad choices frequently, but deep down she’s a good person. I love her and I know she loves me.”), and her late mother (“Mum was the one who got me into books, you know. She loved them more than I do.”). Gold didn’t bother to volunteer information of his own, because why would he? After hearing of his past, she’s surely run for the hills.

~  
Niagara Falls was hard to describe. It was more beautiful than Belle could ever imagine. Still, her awe at seeing Niagara Falls was nothing compared to seeing Mr. Gold looking more at peace than he ever did. She was aware of his reputation as a cold, unfriendly, cruel man, and besides seeing nothing of that when getting to know him, he seemed like a totally different person here, at peace.

“I’m glad we became travel buddies,” she told him when they got back on the bus.

Gold looked away, but she could tell he was smiling.


	4. Chapter 4

Two weeks in and they saw DC, the Georgia Aquarium, SeaWorld (Belle spent that day complaining about the poor treatment of its animals), the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, the USS Arizona Memorial, and were currently on their way to San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge. Though Gold was getting to know Belle, Belle couldn’t quite say the same about Gold, who wasn’t willing to give information about himself-not even his first name. It was a bit frustrating.

 

“Come on, Mr. Gold,” she begged one day. “You know all this stuff about me, and I know hardly anything about you.”

 

“You don’t want to know anything about me, dearie,” he said. “I’m not that interesting, believe me.” It wasn’t a lie, more of a half-truth. She wouldn’t want to know him after all he’d done.

 

But Belle wouldn’t have that. “If we’re going to be friends, you have to tell me about you,” she said.

 

“Are we friends now?” he asked, changing the subject, smiling slightly.

 

“Yeah, I guess we are,” Belle said, returning the smile.

  
  


At Golden Gate Bridge, Gold, Belle, Neal, and Neal’s travel buddy Emma met up.

 

“So you’re the girl my son’s seeing?” Gold asked.

 

“It’s complicated,” Emma said.

 

“We dated ten years ago, but broke up and now we’re re-connecting and bonding over our child,” said Neal.

 

Gold and Belle’s eyes widened.

 

“You never told me you had a child, son,” he said, once he was able to speak.

 

“I didn’t know until recently, either,” Neal responded.

 

They all turned to Emma, who sighed. “Look, I initially gave Henry up for adoption because I was young, Neal dumped me, and I was in prison. It wasn’t the best environment for a child.”

 

“You should’ve told me.  I would have taken him in,” Neal said.

 

Emma looked ashamed. “I know. I’m sorry I lied.”

 

“Tell me about my grandson. How is he?”

 

“She was adopted by Madame Mayor herself, Regina Mills.”

Gold grimaced. “She’s gonna be a hard one to convince to give you custody. Unless you’ve already somehow convinced her?” Gold asked.

 

Emma sighed. “No, she’s being stubborn.”

 

“As she usually is. Apart from being a pawnshop owner and rent collector, I am also a lawyer and would be willing to help you get joint custody with Regina,” Gold offered.

 

“How much do you charge? I’m not exactly in the best financial situation right now,” Emma said.

 

“No price,” Gold said, shocking everyone. “At least, not monetary. I just want to get to know my grandson.”

 

“Okay,” Emma said hesitantly, not sure if she should believe him or not. “Well, thank you, Mr. Gold, for that.”

 

And they spent the day talking, everyone getting to know each other.

 

Belle was starting to fall for him, she knew it. He had a reputation for being a cold and uncaring man, but she saw otherwise. Did any of these people who talked ever try to get to know him? No. But she did. She knew who he was: a caring man who would do anything for his family.

 

She wondered if he felt the same about her. If he did, it’d be a hard time getting him to admit it. He was clearly the type of man to worry about rejection and abandonment, and wouldn’t want to risk damaging his heart further.

 

But hurting him was the last thing she wanted to do.

  
  


“It’s so nice of you to offer to help Emma and Neal pro bono,” Belle said in the hotel room they were sharing.

 

“I’d have wanted the same thing to be done for me once upon a time,” Gold said simply.

 

“Were you in a similar situation?” Belle asked, before realizing her mistake. “Sorry, that’s way too personal.”

 

Gold knew he should agree, that she shouldn’t ask him about personal matters like that, but something in him made him want to tell her and trust her with his secrets.

 

So he told her about how Milah and Killian Jones tried to file for custody of Bailey, aka Neal.

 

Neal was mad at his father for lying about Milah’s deceased status, and had wanted to go with his mother and stepfather.

Gold said no, that neither of them were fit to be parents, and that Milah was only doing this as a ploy to get back at Gold.

 

Neal wouldn’t believe him and ran away to where Milah and Jones were staying. This lasted for a week, in which Jones drunkenly broke Neal’s arm and Milah did nothing.

 

Of course, their custody case was thrown out after that little incident, and Neal was shaken up and more than happy to return to his father.

 

“That’s horrible,” Belle said, her eyes wide with shock and horror.

 

Gold nodded.

 

“Thank you for telling me this, Mr. Gold,”  Belle said, solemnly, getting up from her bed to sit next to him on his. 

 

“Remus,” he said quietly.

 

“What?” She looked at him.

 

“My name. It’s Remus.”

 

“Oh. Well, thank you, Remus. You’re not as dark as people say.”

 

Why did he feel so much joy hearing his name fall from her lips?

 


	5. Chapter 5

The next stop was the Seattle Space Needle. Six stories up and 605 feet from the ground, it was a heady feeling to be in it, but Remus felt nothing but happy being next to Belle. She was immensely pleasant to be around, not to mention she was incredibly pretty…

 

No, he couldn’t think that. She could never want him. Milah and Cora both proved he wasn’t husband material.

 

Still, she grasped onto his hand, and he didn’t say no when she looked at him to make sure it was okay. It was more than okay.

 

While Belle was busy looking at the view of Seattle, he was busy looking at the view next to him. Belle was an incredibly beautiful woman, and he was an incredibly lucky man to be able to be her friend.

 

“Don’t you think the view is beautiful, Remus?” Belle asked, turning to him.

 

“Yeah, the view is magnificent,” Remus said, not talking about Seattle.

 

“It sure is.”

 

They had dinner at the SkyCafe. 

 

It was fun until the end, when Belle decided she needed to do something about her attraction, and kissed him outside the  space needle.

 

His lips were warm and soft. But the kiss only lasted a second before he pushed her away.

 

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

 

“Was I out of line? I’m sorry, I just wanted you to know how I feel,” she said, but Remus clearly wasn’t listening.

 

“Are you trying to use me?  Are you trying to make me seem weak? I thought I could trust you!”

 

“No!” she insisted. “I really feel something for you! Can you honestly say you don’t feel something for me?”

 

“No one could ever love me,” he told her, looking both sad and angry.

 

“I could,” she said. “If only you let me. Look, I realize you haven’t had the best of luck in love. Whoever hurt you, they were wrong. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

 

Remus sighed. “You don’t want to be with me,” he said. “There are men better than me. Don’t tie yourself down to a bitter old man with trust issues.”

 

“No, Remus,” she corrected. “You don’t get to decide if I want to be with you. I do.”

 

“You’re right. And I do want to be with you. I just don’t want to hurt you.”

 

“You won’t. Trust me,” Belle reassured him.

 

“I do,” he said.

  
  


They were back in Storybrooke again. Emma and Neal had won joint custody for Henry. And Belle and Remus were happy together.


End file.
